Higher Stakes
by Miss Mysty
Summary: Ritsu goes out drinking with editors from Marukawa's BL department, and the betting pool shifts.


Higher Stakes

It was a bit of a game for the editors of Sapphire, Marukawa's BL department, to place bets on the other employees about their relationships. Specifically, the male employees. Anyone was game; there was a huge pool for when one of the higher-ups, Isaka, and his secretary would finally do something stupid and reveal their secret relationship (the women had no reason other than hopeful thinking to believe the two were in a relationship, but what was life without hope?). Their favorite betting pool, however, was for their sister department, Emerald. A bunch of gorgeous men working on shojo manga was nothing but BL waiting to happen, as far as the women were concerned. Their editor-in-chief wanted nothing to do with what she called their nonsense, but they were constantly sneaking out to observe the Emerald editors, and she didn't seem to stop them.

Their favorite project, currently, was the editor Onodera. He was somewhat of a young guy, the youngest in the department both in age and how long he'd been there. He was constantly scowling, but there was just something about him that made the women want to squeal with joy whenever he interacted with his devastatingly handsome coworkers. When it came to bets, Onodera had become a favorite as far as winning the heart of Emerald's editor-in-chief, Takano. Some of the editors even spent what little free time they had drawing storyboards of scenarios where Onodera unknowingly won Takano's heart and, naturally, had hot, gay sex. Given that they didn't actually know the Emerald men that well, though, how likely that situation actually was usually ended up being left up for interpretation.

That was why, at the very end of Emerald's cycle, when everything had been turned in and each and every one of Emerald's employees from intern to editor were exhausted beyond comprehension, the four editors at Sapphire invited Onodera out for drinks. They had heard Onodera reject an invitation to go out drinking with another editor, Kisa, saying he was a horrible drunk; that when he had enough alcohol in his system, he tended to spout out embarassing things. Which was why the women simply asked him out to eat. They'd drag him into a bar later.

"Come on, Onodera-kun!" one of the editors, Naoko, said as she dragged Onodera behind them. They had long-since finished eating, and now the four women were dragging him along the street towards a bar district. Onodera had gotten into yelling that he only went out with them because they had offered to pay for the meal, but none of them paid him any mind.

"I don't drink in public!" Onodera said when the four women parked themselves in front of a bar, and two of them, Naoko and Yuri, held Onodera there much against his will. "The last time I drank with someone I-" But then he stopped and blushed, and the women had a feeling they wanted to know what happened the last time he drank with someone. The other two editors, Nanako and Ayaka, pushed him in.

Despite Onodera's protests, it was amazingly easy to get him to drink, especially when the women said they'd pay for his. He was less hesitant to order beer after beer, until he was face-down on the table but still very much concious.

"You know how it is, right?" he asked, waving his hands in the air even as he still had his nose pressed to the cold tabletop. They had gotten to the subject of work, something the five people had in common. The women, after all, were the manga editors for the company, so except for the genre differences, they and the Emerald men went through pretty much the same thing every month. "The authors just... don't want to get things in on time! I never had this trouble when I worked with literature. One time I actually... I actually had to fly out to meet one of my authors who lives in Hokkaido so I could help her apply the screentones. Takano-san didn't think I could make it, but I showed him! Stupid Takano-san." And then Onodera's hands fell to the table, and it almost looked like he had passed out. He cracked one eye open to look up at Ayaka, though. "Is your boss as bad?"

"I don't think so," Ayaka answered kindly. She had barely drunk anything, as she and her coworkers had agreed that if Onodera had anything to say, they wanted to remember it in the morning. "I'm sure he means well."

"Hah! You know he kissed me on my first day. Said he needed a model for an author who came in and needed to finish her sub-mat. Stupid Takano-san." He looked up at his drinking buddies and noticed they looked thrilled at the revelation, and Onodera just scowled. "What?"

"Onodera-kun! Did you go out with anyone in high school?" Nanako asked, pushing Onodera's half-finished beer to him.

Onodera looked at it vaguely, then started chugging the still-frosty beverage. "One," he muttered, the flush on his cheeks getting more prominent. The Sapphire women had seen him blush a lot, and it just added to his charm. "You know, I confessed to him, and we went out? But then he... he broke my heart. And he's the reason I don't like romance! Stupid Takano-san." That was the third time he'd ended a monologue with 'stupid Takano-san' and the women had gotten used to it. "I went out with some people after that, but I couldn't forget about Saga-senpai. And then I met him again." Onodera shook a fist at the sky, as if his meeting Saga-senpai again after all those years were some kind of act of God.

"Would you go back out with him?" Naoko asked, sipping at her red wine.

"No! He's stupid!" Onodera answered. "I told you! Stupid Takano-san, going and changing his last name so I don't recognize him. I would've quit right away if I did." He was talking to himself at that point, though, not even noticing every single woman at the table perking up with interest.

It seemed his little confession was over, though, because Onodera had passed-out at last. Naoko, Ayaka, Nanako and Yuri paid the tab and picked him up so they could bring him home, having asked where he lived while they were all still sober.

The next morning, Onodera was the only one in the Emerald office that didn't look radiant. With the end of the cycle, everyone had gone home early and been able to shower, groom and actually have a decent meal. Onodera, however, had a horrible hangover and didn't really remember what had happened the night before after the Sapphire editors dragged him into that bar.

Speaking of them, however, Naoko and Ayaka were hanging around the entrance of the office, looking around like they actually had business. Takano was actually in a good mood so, unlike usual, he didn't bother chasing them off. When Naoko and Ayaka saw Onodera, they grinned and stepped inside.

"Onodera-kun!" Naoko said, and Onodera winced. Any kind of noise went straight to his poor, aching brain. Naoko reached into her purse and produced a bottle of pain killers. "I thought you might need these."

"...thanks," Onodera said, and let Naoko slip two into his hand, then gulped them down with some bottled water. "How did I get home last night?"

"We brought you back," Ayaka said. "Around midnight, I guess. You don't remember anything?"

"Not a thing," Onodera grumbled, putting his head on his desk not unlike his pose from the previous night.

"He never learns his lesson." Takano rolled his eyes, and Naoko and Ayaka looked over at him. "Don't you two have work to do?"

Naoko and Ayaka couldn't help giggling as they headed for the elevator. The betting pool had definitely shifted.


End file.
